Excise Tax Overshifting in the Hungarian Beer Market

We conduct this paper on excise tax shifting in the Hungarian beer market. Using a regression model we show that tax overshifting occurs in this market. We present a model with oligopolistic competition to explain how tax overshifting can occur because of the separated vertical structure. Our results suggests that Hungarian beer producers compete in Bertrand fashion and the hypothesis of collusion between beer producers can be rejected

The pricing strategies of Hungarian food retail chains during the last recession

The paper seeks to explore the pricing strategies used by Hungarian food retail chains and how these strategies are related to the market and financial performance of the chains. A two-phase empirical research was carried out in 2011/2012. The research is based on 44 in-store observations, the analysis of price promotion leaflets and interviews with retail professionals. In-store observations focused on collecting data on baseline prices. The price promotion leaflets enabled the assessment of the promotional activity of the observed retailers. The interviews were used to check the validity of the research results. By grouping the analysed 11 retail chains along baseline price levels and price promotion activities, three different types of pricing strategies were identified. A relationship was found between the three pricing strategies and the performance indicators of the included chains. An important finding is that retail chains with a medium price level and low promotional activity were the least successful, while retailers with a low price level and high promotional activity achieved the best performance

Changes in learning strategy and learning time in the wake of the pandemic

University studies were also significantly affected by the pandemic. The first-year students had already spent the last months of high school, which are especially important for graduation, in distance learning. In Hungary, the graduation procedure was changed due to the epidemic. Education was completely digital in hybrid form: the lectures were held online, and the seminars were attended in-person and from September of 2021 again in-person. Our research team has been monitoring learning time and effectiveness for years using the EduBase online educational platform, which provides a framework for all teaching aids for the calculus subject. In our research, we analysed the learning processes and their effectiveness of mechatronic and energy engineering students who were admitted to BME in 2020. The results were compared with the learning habits of the class of 2018, with whom a detailed study was also performed. It can be stated that the pandemic greatly influenced the learning time: students took advantage of the available practice opportunities to a greater extent in digital education, which did not reduce the practice time during the end-of-semester spurt, thus, learning became more balanced. Considering the high school results, it can be observed that on average, those who took advanced level subjects spent more time practicing, even though they had already mastered some calculus in high school. In addition, test scores also influenced practice time, while students coped successfully even with the more difficult tasks

Short- and long-term effects of COVID-19 on bicycle sharing usage

Using panel regression methods, this paper investigates how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted bicycle sharing system (BSS) ridership in Budapest. In particular, the paper aims to separate the effects of mobility and government restrictions on BSS ridership and analyse whether long-term positive effects are observable in this city. Results indicate that both mobility and government stringency measures significantly and positively affected BSS usage, particularly in residential areas and close to public parks. However, after the first wave of the pandemic passed and government measures were partially lifted, BSS ridership declined in line with the elimination of the restrictions. New users often churned after their first trial, and usage frequency dropped to lower levels than before the pandemic. This indicates that BSS was a valuable transportation mode during a pandemic, but a permanent increase in usage was not observed in Budapest despite a considerable price decrease in bicycle fares. The unsatisfactory experiences with this BSS, primarily due to heavy bike frames and solid rubber tires may be the cause of this. Our results prove the benefits of BSS in mitigating a pandemic but call the attention to the need to improve particular system characteristics that may undermine long-term ridership. These characteristics can be different for every BSS; hence, local market research is required. This limits the generalizability of the results

A nemzetközi diverzifikáció, az innováció és a teljesítmény kapcsolata az európai élelmiszer-kiskereskedelemben

Kutatásunk során azt vizsgáltuk, hogy miként hat a nemzetközi diverzifikáció a nagy európai élelmiszer-kiskereskedelmi vállalatok piaci teljesítményére és innovációs tevékenységére. A világ 250 legnagyobb kiskereskedőjét tartalmazó toplista alapján az európai kiskereskedelmi vállalatok rendelkeznek a leginkább kiterjedt globális jelenléttel, ami jelentősen növeli a kiskereskedelmi tevékenységük nemzetközi diverzifikáltságát. A szakirodalom feltételezése alapján a nemzetközi diverzifikáció számos előnyt nyújt a vállalatok számára, például új erőforrásokhoz, innovációs lehetőségekhez való hozzáférést vagy a piaci kockázat csökkentését. Másodlagos források alapján paneladatbázist építettünk a 2008–2013 közötti időszakra. Elemzésünk során kimutattuk, hogy a nemzetközi diverzifikáció és a kiskereskedelmi vállalatok folyamatinnovációs tevékenysége között a kapcsolat nem lineáris. A nemzetközi diverzifikáció továbbá fordított U alakú összefüggést mutat a vállalatok nyereségességével. Végül, a marketing-, termék- és folyamatinnováció pozitív, késleltetett hatást gyakorol az élelmiszer-kiskereskedelmi vállalatok nyereségességére.* Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) kód: M31, L81

A kiskereskedelmi szabályozás hatása a fogyasztói árakra = The impact of retail regulation on consumer prices

Kutatásunk célja a kötelező vasárnapi zárva tartás és a nagy alapterületű üzletek nyitását korlátozó szabályozás („plázastop”-törvény) hatásainak elemzése a fogyasztói árakra. Vizsgálatunk során 17 konkrét termék országos fogyasztói átlagárát elemeztük 2006 és 2017 közötti havi adatokon FGLS panel regresszió segítségével. Eredményeink alapján a kötelező vasárnapi zárva tartásnak nem volt szignifikáns hatása a fogyasztói árakra a szabályozás egy éve alatt. Ezzel szemben a modern üzletformák és nemzetközi üzletláncok (kiemelten az Aldi) terjeszkedése szignifikánsan csökkentette a fogyasztói árakat. Ezek alapján az új üzletek nyitását korlátozó szabályozás káros volt a fogyasztókra nézve, hiszen magasabb fogyasztói árakat eredményezett. Eredményeink összhangban vannak hasonló nemzetközi kutatások eredményeivel. --- This paper studies the impact of Sunday trade regulation and barriers to entry in retailing on consumer prices in Hungary. We analyzed the monthly price movements of 17 food items on the period 2006-2017 using FGLS panel regression. Our results indicate that the regulation and later deregulation of Sunday trading did not have any significant effect on consumer prices. On the contrary, the spread of the modern store formats and international retail chains (especially Aldi) significantly reduced prices. Based on this result, the entry barriers in retail had an unfavorable effect on consumers materializing in higher prices. Results are in line with prior international literature